Place of Birth

Creators

Contents

History

Origin

During the Kree-Skrull War, the Super-Skrull kidnapped Captain Marvel, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch and presented them to the Skrull Emperor. While being imprisoned, Captain Marvel and the Emperor's daughter, Princess Anelle, had a brief affair and she conceived a child. Fearing for his safety, Anelle sent the child away with her nursemaid immediately after his birth. The servant took the child to Earth to be raised by his father, but after arriving on Earth she learned that Captain Marvel had died. Mrs. Altman decided to raise the child as her own and posed as a single mother working in real estate and named the child Theodore "Teddy" Rufus Altman.[6]

On Earth, Teddy used his powers mainly in an effort to fit in with his high school classmates, particularly the class president and basketball team captain, Greg Norris. Fitting in for Teddy included using his shapeshifting to provide access to New York City high life by impersonating various superheroes and celebrities. Finally, when Greg coerced him into breaking into the ruins of Avengers Mansion, Teddy decided that some things were more important than fitting in, and rather than let Greg loot the mansion, he ended the friendship.[3]

Young Avengers

Teddy was one of the people listed in the Avengers Fail-Safe Program, compiled by the Vision to be used to form a new team of superheroes in the event of the destruction or disbandment of the Avengers. Iron Lad, a younger version of Kang the Conqueror, found Teddy using the Vision’s Fail-Safe Program and requested his help in preventing his future self from returning him to the future. Teddy joined the Young Avengers and adopted the super-hero identity of the Hulkling. He began dating his teammate, Wiccan.[7][8]

Teddy's life changed again when the shape-shifting extraterrestrial known as the Super-Skrull showed up, claiming that Teddy was a Skrull. The Super-Skrull was surprised to learn that Teddy had super strength and wondered if "perhaps the rumors about his father [were] true."[9]

Hulkling and Wiccan

The Super-Skrull followed the Young Avengers to the home of Wiccan, where Teddy's mother was waiting for him. The Super-Skrull released a device designed to turn Teddy into his true form, trying to prove to him his Skrull heritage. However, the device didn't change Teddy's physical appearance. Instead, Ms. Altman, who was also caught in the device's beam, revealed her true Skrull form. When the Super Skrull accused her of being a traitor to her race, she responded by saying that the Empress ordered her to protect Teddy. Before she could say much else, the Super-Skrull killed her and kidnapped Teddy.[6]

The Super-Skrull capturing Hulkling

The Super-Skrull broadcasted to all Skrull worlds that he had located Dorrek VIII, though Teddy insisted that he was not a Skrull. Kl'rt insisted that was and revealed the truth about his past. He insisted that he must return to his people so that they could reunite the Skrull Empire. Kree soldiers then arrived to help Teddy, stating that the Kree looked after their own. A battle then erupted between the Kree and the Skrulls, both claiming Teddy as their own. The only solution that Teddy saw to end the battle was surrender. It was settled that Teddy would spend half an Earth-year with the Kree and the other half with the Skrull, at which time he would declare his ultimate allegiance, while also being able to make scheduled visits to Earth. It was later revealed that the "Teddy" who left with the Kree was actually the Super-Skrull disguised as him, and therefore the real Teddy stayed on Earth.[6]

When the Runaways tried to stay out of the conflict, they barely managed to escape from the government forces. Hearing of this development in the news, the Young Avengers decided to help the Runaways even though Captain America vetoed the plan. Wiccan used his magic to locate and teleport to the Runaways. However, the Runaways believed that the Young Avengers had come to capture them and a fight ensued until Patriot succeeded in convincing Nico Minoru to stop the hostilities. The two teams were later attacked by Marvel Boy, who captured Wiccan, Karolina and Hulkling, and almost killed Xavin. The young heroes became the prisoners of the Warden, who proceeded to practice vivisection on the unconscious Teddy. The boys were rescued by Xavin, whose Skrull physiology allowed him to recover from Noh-Varr's attack. Billy came close to killing the Warden, but Teddy stopped him.[10]

Teddy played a pivotal role in Captain America's plan for the final confrontation with Iron Man's forces, impersonating Yellowjacket in order to free the imprisoned heroes of Prison 42.[11]

Hulkling meeting Captain Marvel

Meeting Captain Marvel

Shortly after the return of Captain Marvel, Teddy and Billy saw him battling giant robots alongside the Avengers on a broadcast in Times Square. Teddy quickly arranged a meeting with the Captain to explain their biological relationship. Captain Marvel was shocked by the news as he never knew a child was conceived during his and Anelle's secret union. Captain Marvel needed to process this new information and almost immediately departed. He returned later to again speak with Teddy. The two discussed the Captain and Anelle's brief courtship, Marvel's cancer and his quest to return to his own time period. Before separating, Marvel told Teddy that he was proud of him for having become a warrior and the two agreed to meet again, though Teddy never again saw him alive.[12]

Secret Invasion

When the Skrulls invaded Earth, Hulkling joined the Young Avengers on the front-lines of the battle. Because he is Skrull royalty, Hulkling attempted to speak with the Skrulls leaders. The Skrulls ignored him and swiftly took him out. He later became targeted for execution by the Skrull Queen because of his royalty. Before he could be executed, Xavin, a Runaway and a Skrull, intervened to save Hulkling's life.[13]

Siege

Hulkling, along with the other Young Avengers, helped rescue the fallen from Asgard during the Siege. Together, he and Wiccan also battled the Wrecking Crew.[14]

Children's Crusade

After Wiccan's powers overloaded and the Avengers decided to keep him under observation, Hulkling and the other Young Avengers broke Wiccan out of holding and began the search for the Scarlet Witch. Accompanied by Magneto and Quicksilver, the team traveled to Transia and then to Latveria before discovering a depowered and amnesiac Wanda engaged to Doctor Doom. The rediscovery of Wanda did not go unnoticed though, as the Avengers soon arrived on the scene. A battle with Doom's Doombot army soon broken out and was only stopped by the arrival of Iron Lad.[10]

Iron Lad teleported the Young Avengers and Wanda into the timestream. They all went into the past, and met reanimated Jack of Hearts, who was to explode. After that, Wanda remembered who she was, regained her powers and returned herself along with the Young Avengers and Scott Lang to the present.[15] She then finally confirmed that Billy and Tommy were indeed her reincarnated sons.[16]

Wanda's increased powers were revealed to be the result of her gaining a connection to the life force itself. A ritual intended to undo the Decimation was interrupted by Patriot, leading to the powers being transferred to Doctor Doom. He intended to turn the world into a utopia, a utopia in that he would rule.[17] The Avengers and X-Men teamed up to defeat him, in the process, Stature was killed by Doom, and the villain escaped after losing his powers when they overloaded.[18]

Wiccan and Hulkling kissing

Iron Lad proposed to save Stature through the time stream, but Vision refused, ending with both of them battling each other and Iron Lad destroying Vision and then taking off to the time stream, even after Wiccan warned that this was the moment in time where he became Kang the Conqueror.[19]

In the aftermath of the battles, the Young Avengers disbanded and stayed in low profile during the major events that transpired in the world (the Spider-Island infestation, the X-Men's Schism and the resurrection of the Human Torch). Billy fell into a severe state of depression, but Teddy brought him out of it by proposing to him. However, their moment of joy was interrupted by Ms. Marvel who called them to the Avengers Mansion. After a few words from Captain America, all the remaining Young Avengers were officially named as full-fledged Avengers.[19]

Return to Heroics

For a period of time, Wiccan and Hulkling retired from being super-heroes. However, they are unexpectedly brought back into the fray when Wiccan, in an attempt to patch an argument with Hulkling, accidentally let an interdimensional parasite called Mother into their world.[20]

After escaping from Mother,[21] thwarting Skrull impersonating Skifflefuffles,[22] and traveling across the Multiverse to rescue Speed,[23] Hulkling decided to spend sometime away from Wiccan and the Young Avengers to figure out if he really loved Wiccan or it was merely his reality-warping power. He then relocated to Austin, Texas and began meeting with a therapist, Leah.[24] However, Leah was an ally of Mother, who tricked Hulkling into returning to New York City, an occurrence that allowed the parasite to return to the universe.[25]

The rest of the Young Avengers were caught off-guard by Mother's return, and the only hope to stop her was for Wiccan to achieve his full potential as the Demiurge.[26] When the Young Avengers returned to Mother's dimension to stop her, Wiccan tried but failed to turn into the Demiurge.[27] After Hulkling was rescued, Teddy comforted Billy, and reconciled with him. Their reunion allowed Billy to become the Demiurge and destroy Mother, saving the day.[28]

King of Space

After saving Paris from an epidemy called Life-Minus that engulfed most of the nation and turned living beings into living-dead crystal headed entities,[30] Hulkling and his teammates were at Avengers Island when a group of aliens using both Kree and Skrull technology kidnapped him, taking Wiccan with him by accident. The aliens, like Hulkling, were Kree/Skrull hybrids and called themselves the Knights of the Infinite. They took him to their base, the Forbidden Asteroids, so he could pass a test in order to see if he was truly the chosen one, which was pulling the sword Excelsior from a stone. Hulkling passed the test, and the Knights kneeled before him.[31]

When Hulkling and Wiccan were taken to the Knights' home, Castle Tarnala, they discovered the corpse of M'ryn the Magus possessed by the evil wizard Moridun. Any of their attempts at damaging Moridun were in vain, and the creature soon absorbed enough power to grow in size, destroying the castle from the inside out. Soon afterwards, the rest of the New Avengers showed up and joined the brawl against Moridun, to no avail. After accidentally absorbing an energy blast from Moridun with Excelsior, Hulkling realized he could use it against the evil wizard. The New Avengers distracted Moridun long enough to allow Hulkling to stab him in the face, seemingly killing the creature.

Once the dust settled, the Knights buried those lost to Moridun and allowed Hulkling to leave, explaining that the young hero had a duty to his friends, and he wouldn't be their king if he was capable of abandoning that. Before biding farewell, Lan-Zarr promised that when the time was right, the Knights of the Infinite would fight at his side.[32]

After Hulkling and the other New Avengers returned from Tokyo, Hulkling realized that the people from the future were actually the Avengers. After King Hulk tried to reconcile with Hulkling about Moridun possessing Wiccan, Hulkling soon realized the only person who could actually get Moridun out: Wiccan. Hulkling reached out to Wiccan, which prompted him to fight against Moridun inside his mind. After Moridun was expelled from Wiccan, Hulkling pulled Wiccan into a kiss. With the the terrible future averted, the future Avengers were sent back to their reality, and the timestream was fixed.[34]

Wiccan's Kookie Quartet

When A.I.M. decided to rescue and shelter hacktivist Rick Jones, Sunspot decided to put to vote this decision, which would be considered an act of war against both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the United States. The three members that opposed the idea, Teddy, Billy and Squirrel Girl, were all exiled from the team for their own safety.[35]

Once the New Avengers freed A.I.M. agent Songbird from S.H.I.E.L.D. captivity,[37] they assisted A.I.M. in fending off an attack from the New Revengers at their Avenger Base Two in the Savage Land.[38] When Sunspot set out to shut down rogue A.I.M. splinter cells, he requested Wiccan's and Hulkling's help, and lured them to an empty luxurious apartment in Central Park, under the pretense that said location housed the headquarters for one of the cells. When the two young heroes arrived there, they found a note from Sunspot, which revealed the apartment was a parting gift for their help.

With Hawkeye having left the team after being put in trial for the murder of Bruce Banner,[39] and Squirrel Girl deciding to rejoin A.I.M. to keep an eye on Sunspot, Hulkling and Wiccan decided to disband the New Avengers and focus on their personal lives for the time being.[40]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Hulkling shapeshifting into Wiccan

Hulkling surviving vivisection

Teddy is a hybrid of both Kree and Skrull. As a result, Hulkling has inherited powers and abilities from each race, though some are more potent due to his hybrid nature. Hulkling's alien physiology also protects him from being manipulated by pheromone based powers, such as those of Daken.

Superhuman Strength: Hulkling is much stronger than an average human, and stronger than even most Krees are because of his partial Skrull background. His top strength is unknown, though it is likely that he can lift at least 75 tons but no more than 100 tons.

Superhuman Durability: Hulkling's skin can become much denser and thicker than any normal human's, giving him a very strong resistance to pain and injury. He is able to withstand great impact forces, such as falls from great heights, repeated bludgeoning from superhumanly strong beings, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. High caliber bullets and bladed weapons are also unable to pierce his skin.

Superhuman Stamina: Due to his partial Kree heritage and recuperative powers, it is likely that Hulkling possesses greater stamina than any ordinary human.

Shape-shifting: Hulkling is a shapeshifter of remarkable ability. While he most commonly shifts into a teenaged version of the Hulk, he has also been known to impersonate well known superheroes such as the Human Torch, Mister Fantastic, and Tony Stark. In the heat of battle — or of the moment — he has evidenced a less refined style of shapeshifting: growing claws, extending his reach and growing wings in a protoplasmic manner.

Flight: Using his metamorphic powers, Hulking often grows wings strong enough to propel him into the air.

Subconscious Metamorphic Adaptation:: Hulkling has shown the (subconscious) ability to adapt his body depending on his situation at the time. One being his body shifting biomass to protect vital organs, while the Warden of The Cube was attempting to vivisect him.[41]

Regenerative Healing Factor: Hulkling's ability to regenerate injured tissue and brain cells to an extraordinary degree. It is likely that this healing factor also makes him highly resistant to toxins and poisons, as well as immune to Earthly diseases.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Excelsior: An alien sword belonging to the very first Kree/Skrull hybrid and teddy's great ancestor Dorrek Supreme, it is a magical blade of unspeakable cosmic power that gives whosoever wields it; the right to rule all of space.

Teddy once had a crush on his high school class president and basketball team captain, Greg Norris. Because of this crush, Teddy allowed Greg to convince him to engage in impersonating super-heroes for personal gain.[3]

Hulking was shown to be a member of the Initiative, along with Wiccan.[44] However, it was later revealed most of the Young Avengers did not actually join The Initiative or even register. They were registered by their Earth-A counterparts; both Wiccan and Hulking were seen complaining about being registered to their "A Selves".[45]

In Young Avengers Presents #2, Teddy met a man he believed was Mar-Vell, but was actually a Skrull sleeper agent Khn'nr. However, Khn'nr was programmed with the real Captain Marvel's memories and genetics. It is unclear if Teddy ever learned the truth about Khn'nr.